Capella IV

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A mere 42 light-years from Earth, the star Capella is actually a close pair of Type G III yellow giants (Capella A and B) orbiting each other at only 0.73 AU. In addition to its 11 planets, Capella has two more companion stars, both small red dwarves (Capella C and D) orbiting at extreme distances of around 11,000 AU. Capella is located in the Alpha Quadrant; the Klingon missions here were among the closest approaches their forces ever made to the Federation core worlds.

Orbiting two yellow giants, Capella IV receives a lot of solar radiation. As a result, it is atypically hot for an M-class world, even in the relatively mild northern hill country. Contributing further to the global high temperatures are the chronic red algal blooms in Capella IV’s seas, the tiny plants preventing truly efficient water circulation. Much of the planet is desert of some description; even coastal lowlands will often be nothing more than scrub beaches.

Capella IV has three major seas, all considerably smaller than those found on most M-class worlds. The largest, Ashira, straddles the equator, with the sea of Zanr located to its northwest. The smallest sea, Greshor, lies at a great distance from the other two in the centre of a large, hard-baked desert known as Soreb. Between Soreb and the greener regions on the shores of Ashira lie the Desertwall Mountains; other major ranges include the Chalteer Mountains in the north-east and the Tograa just south of the equator. Most of Capella’s population lives around Ashira and Zanr in the somewhat less arid coastal piedmonts. Between the two seas in the north is a long range of relatively well-watered hills and eroded mountains, the Vako Highlands. Here, the semi-nomadic warrior aristocracy of the Ten Tribes live and war with each other, occasionally extending their power over the seacoasts and their attendant towns. The Southern regions, by contrast, are mostly barren. The city of Garas is the only major settlement south of the equator, with much of this hemisphere dominated by the uninhabited Ranaal Badlands.

“My people live in what you would consider shacks. They fight with kligats, they dress in clothing that they sew themselves, they plant and hunt and gather their own food. Contact with the Federation should have been the dawning of a new age for the Ten Tribes, but instead my people are still ruled by superstition and foolishness, and have made appallingly little progress in the past century. We should have been able to create a city like this”.

Capellans don’t suffer from the widespread, multi-racial disease Andronesian Encephalitis. This is despite the fact that conditions on Capella are ideal for the micro-organisms responsible. Research revealed that in fact Capellans do have the disease, but they also have a corrosive acid which successfully neutralizes the virus, preventing the development of symptoms. The acid is present in Capella’s springs and rivers; they ingest it in their drinking water.